


Just your average week at T&I

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: A pair they make [12]
Category: Naruto
Genre: A day on the job, A pair they make fic, Adorable, Cute, Fluff, Funny, Gen, Gift Fic, Goat-Anbu, Hunter-nin, Ibiki is a jerk, Iruka makes a friend, Iruka works at T&I, Iruka works for Ibiki, Kekkei Genkai | Bloodline Limit, M/M, lots of paperwork, rough day at work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Iruka's worked in T&I for a while now, he's gotten into the flow of things but that doesn't mean that every week is easy let alone calm. This particular week goes about as sideways as one can go, from Hunter-nin, Anbu, Ibiki and an escape attempt Iruka just wants to make it to Saturday.A pair they make fic.





	Just your average week at T&I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Theycallthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theycallthewind/gifts).

> This is a gift for a lovely reader and friend of mine Theycallthewind, she requested this as her reward fic for helping me with a project. I hope you enjoy this, I did my best seeing as you gave me no prompt to go from lol.

******** Goat-Monday

Iruka had gotten to know quite a few of the Anbu who came in and out of the T&I headquarters, it was just a side effect of his job now. Granted some were more friendly than others, but Iruka enjoyed speaking with the special ops shinobi and figured that his presence might at the very least give them a change of pace when having to deal with the death they were constantly surrounded with. Or help mitigate their time with Ibiki, lord knew Iruka was thankful for Kakashi in that respect.

Of the many shinobi who Iruka had come to meet, there was a particular Anbu who was oftentimes stationed in the section of the underground base that Iruka frequented when ferrying messages for Ibiki. Goat. 

Initially, the pair of them hadn’t started off on a good foot, the man had immediately chastized Iruka on revealing too much about himself when they first met when Iruka was new to working for T&I. Their continued meetings over the course of weeks, months and now over a year later seemed to have tempered the masked man's feelings towards Iruka enough to where they had a friendly banter going on. Which was probably why when the Anbu put a hand out across his chest to stop him from going down a hallway Iruka listened.

“Umm?” Goat shook his head. “Right.” Iruka sighed, tapping his foot the Jounin leaned forward a hair to glance down the accompanying hallways only to see nothing. Pulling back so as not to annoy his Anbu counterpart, Iruka muttered. “It’s quiet and I’m pretty sure that I should be more concerned by that then the ever-present screaming that is Ibiki’s presence.”

The Anbu snorted. “You should.”

Nodding Iruka shifted his notebook around, turned to face the Anbu in full and questioned with little preamble. “Someone important?”

“Don’t know.”

Iruka hummed a moment. “Someone from Wave?” Because Iruka knew that although T&I had dealings with every type of shinobi Iruka’s involvement with Wave was a key player when it came to him being around any members of Wave’s shinobi forces which were brought to T&I.

“No.”

Iruka bobbed his head. “Suna?”

The Anbu snorted garnering a smirk from Iruka, they both knew that there was a long-standing peace treaty between the two villages. “What?” Iruka challenged. “We’ve dealt with missing nin’s for them.”

Goat shook his head. “Not Suna.”

Iruka smiled, more for the fact that he knew that he’d made the man smile beneath his mask because after dealing with this particular Anbu for so long Iruka KNEW when the man was actually amused by whatever Iruka did.

“Iwa?”

Goat’s chest shook a bit as he held back laughter. “Are you going to keep guessing?”

“Probably.” Iruka shrugged. “I mean we don’t have anything better to do right?” Goat shook his head. “Did he tell you to keep people back or are you just being polite?”

“Polite? How would this be being polite?” The Anbu tilted his head in curiosity.

Iruka smiled in a good-natured way. “We both know there is some shit that goes down here that no one wants to see.”

“Fair.” Then the man shook his head. “I’m not being polite, just orders.”

Iruka looked down the hallway. “Is it Ibiki or someone else?” Goat didn’t say anything, Iruka huffed. “I’d have to be blind not to see how comes down that hallway Goat.”

“Fair.” The Anbu reasoned. “Someone else.”

Interrogators are what the Anbu really meant, Iruka knew. “Again, isn’t this supposed to be when it’s noisy?”

“You’d think so.” Goat muttered. “Not with him.”

“Ah.” Iruka stared down the hallway, he’d met a few of Ibiki’s interrogators, the nin that even the head interrogator trusted to back him up. They were not the sort you went to tea with, though they were perfectly nice individuals doing their duty for their village...There was something about them that set Iruka’s nerves on fire. Iruka was still forcibly refusing to acknowledge the fact that they reminded him of his sensei, that was one thing he wasn’t prepared to deal with.

“How long have you been waiting?” Iruka questioned the masked man.

“I’m not waiting, I’m on duty.”

Iruka snorted. “Trapped down here today huh?”

The Anbu let out a small chuckle at Iruka’s joke, this was where he was always stationed when not on missions. “Looks like it.”

“You piss off Ibiki?” The glower he got through the man’s eye slits had Iruka smirking, no longer threatened by the man’s imposing form. “Don’t feel so bad, Kakashi managed to do that in under ten minutes at the last captain meeting.”

Goat snorted. “To him its a skill set.”

Iruka laughed at the Anbu's dry retort. “Yeah...Or a personal goal, I’m really not sure but seeing as he’s always pleased with himself when he gets back from those I’d say he’s winning.”

Goat shook his head. “He’s an idiot.”

“He’d say genius.”

“And what do you say?” The Anbu challenged.

“He’s a genius, he’s just too smart for his own good and that oftentimes results in him being an ass.” Iruka chimed in easily enough. “I love the man, but trust me when I say that there are times that I’m glad it’s Ibiki he’s torturing.”

Goat laughed at the man’s honesty only to be cut short as he craned his head around and threw out his arm once more to keep Iruka back. The Jounin hummed, well aware that now was not the time to speak.

Iruka swallowed tightly when a man who was wearing a latex apron that was dripping red walked down the hallway towards them, a calm demeanor despite the way he was presently portrayed. Iruka heeded Goat’s gentle press against his chest, flattening himself against the wall beside the Anbu and allowing the interrogator to pass. The man paused a few feet past them, addressing Goat.

“You’ll need a mop.” And then continued forward, leaving them behind without another word.

Iruka blew out a long breath even as Goat released him, leaning forward to make sure the interrogator was truly gone Iruka twisted to see that Goat was glaring down the hallway towards the room the man had exited.

“Is that really on you?”

“No.” Goat rumbled. “He just likes doing that.”

Iruka nodded, he supposed that made sense, everyone around here had their own way of venting and for some, that meant making others uncomfortable. Iruka stepped away from the wall and gave the Anbu a more subdued smile. “Now that the coast is clear, I’m going to duck on by and drop this off.” He held up his notebook. 

“Be fast.” Goat suggested as he looked the other way.

“I will,” Iruka promised, he had no desire to stick around longer than he had too. Without another word spared between them, the Jounin darted down the hallway, skirting the trail of blood that the interrogator had left behind him and stoutly refusing to glance into the room the man had left open. He’d drop off his work and high tail it out of there before anyone else came to attend to things, today was going to be a gruesome day and Iruka had no desire to take part in it. He felt bad for Goat but knew the man could handle himself. 

On his way out of the lower level, Iruka gave a wave to the Anbu, Goat gave a nod back to him as he continued to stand at his post. Once inside the elevator Iruka sighed, he needed to remember to bring the man some cookies or something. Anything could make a shift down there seem brighter and no matter how much Kakashi might laugh at him for garnering a friendship with the man, Iruka was grateful to have gotten to know the man. Even if he still didn’t know who was beneath the mask. 

************ Overtime-Tuesday

Iruka slouched forward across his desk, blowing out a long breath that ruffled the pages of papers that he was supposed to be dealing with. With his head nothing but a thick sludge from such a long day Iruka wasn’t sure that he could read another page let alone finish all the documents that were sprawled across his desk. Groaning as he let his head thunk down onto the surface of the desk and simultaneously block out the horrifying sight of all the work still left uncompleted.

************

“Huh...Think we should wake him?”

The man snorted. “If not us Ibiki will in the morning.” 

The ever-present threat of what that would bring had the woman speaking. “Fair enough.” The woman drawled as she entered the room where they’d stumbled upon one of the T&I translators and transcribers. Doing security sweeps this late at night rarely resulted in much more than a few workers who were always on task of organizing things for the following day. This particular worker was not a part of the night staff.

The woman reached across the desk and tapped the man’s head. “This is not your bed.”

The man snorted at his teammate's jibe at the poor tired Jounin who groaned upon being poked at. “Wonder if Wolf is aware that he’s taking naps at work?”

The Kunoichi chuckled. “Doubtful, he would have dragged him home by now.” She hummed when it took a harder jab to get the man to grunt and sit up straight in a hurry. So much of one that he fell backward off of his seat in a crash. The Kunoichi winced underneath her mask, sending a look towards her teammate who was shaking his head at her.

“Oh god.” Iruka rubbed at his head, shaking it a moment later he glanced up only to have his eyes widen when a figure leaned over the edge of his desk.

“Still alive?”

Iruka nodded his head as he stared up at the Anbu. “Uh-” Iruka coughed to clear his throat. “Yes...Thank you.” Iruka managed to get to his feet in a more dignified manner than he thought possible for being awoken at his own desk by the Anbu security. Blushing a bit Iruka gave a sheepish grin at the Anbu who were watching him.

“Fell asleep on the job huh?”

Iruka glanced towards the male Anbu who seemed more amused than anything despite the bite in his words, but Iruka figured that might just be the deepness of his voice. Sighing Iruka muttered. “I got had.”

“Had?” The woman questioned. “How so?”

“Co-worker ditched.”

“Ah.” The pair nodded in unison.

“Not going to fall for that again are you?” The woman teased.

Iruka gave a rather pitiful glower at the masked kunoichi. “No, I’m not.”

“Let me guess.” She chimed casually. “Was it by chance Yonri?”

Iruka scowled which prompted the woman to start laughing at him, groaning Iruka wiped a hand down his face even as he muttered. “Don’t make it worse by telling me this is old news.”

“Sorry sensei.” She teased using his old title. “You got had by the oldest trick in the book here.”

“Raven be nice, he’s new.” The man chimed in, his baritone voice warbled in such a way that his chastizement was meant to cover up his own amusement. "It was going to happen to him sooner or later, no reason to rub salt in the wounds."

Iruka let his hand fall to his side, giving both Anbu a rather put out look. “You don’t have to enjoy this as much as you are, aren’t I suffering enough?” He glanced to see what time it was only to groan again. “Damn it.” Looking back at his desk, Iruka frowned before sorting through things to see where he’d left off.

“Sensei-”

Iruka pointed at her without actually looking at the masked woman. “I’m not a sensei, don’t call me that.” The bite in his words surprised both Anbu though Iruka didn’t notice as he sorted through the papers.

“Hmm...Alright.” She considered the man carefully. “You realize that you’re supposed to sign paperwork for late-night privileges right?”

Iruka grunted as he pushed some papers aside, finally looking up Iruka muttered. “Huh?”

Chuckling the man shook his head. “You have to sign paperwork to alert security-Us." He waved at himself and his partner. "That you’ll be in the building after regular hours.”

Iruka deflated a bit before replying. “I’m going to kill him.”

The Anbu tilted their heads in mirrors of each other. “Who?” Raven curiously asked.

“Yonri.” Iruka growled. “He said he did all of that!” The Jounin waved his hand in the air as if the Anbu’s very presence was the biggest issue with his present position.

Shaking his head the male Anbu retorted. “Relax, we won’t file any paperwork that would see Ibiki getting on your case. Having to deal with Yonri is punishment enough.”

Iruka snorted out a dry chuckle. “Thanks...Would have preferred the warning beforehand though.”

“Everyone has to take their licks, think of it as hazing.”

Iruka smirked at Raven. “Hazing really?”

She shrugged. “Better than what Anbu do to each other.”

Iruka chuckled, the young woman had a point there. Kakashi found it amusing to go in great detail about some of the things Anbu did to the rookies. “Alright, I’m not going to touch that topic...But thank you, I don’t feel quite as much like a total idiot now.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” She teased earning herself a rather deep scowl from the man. Laughing Raven waved a gloved hand at him. “Get back to work sensei.”

Iruka huffed before reminding the woman. “I’m not a sensei.”

The woman smiled beneath her mask as she leaned forward, letting her elbows sit on the top of the desk and hold her up as she spoke to Iruka sincerely. “You’ll always be a sensei to me Umino-sensei.”

Iruka blinked, his eyes widening a moment later when his brain clicked into gear.

“Raven.” Her partner hissed.

“Oh don’t have a fit.” Raven waved a hand at her partner. “How many classes did you teach sensei?”

“Uhm...Well.” Iruka chuckled before answering honestly. “I can’t remember.” He smiled.

She nodded. “Well, at least you can be sure that some of us were worth it.”

Iruka scowled back at her. “All of you were worth it.”

Raven reached across and poked the man in the chest. “That’s why you were my favorite.”

Iruka snorted. “I doubt it... All my kids hated me at one point or another.”

“Hindsight sensei.”

The Jounin gave a nod of his head. “That I can believe.”

The male Anbu sighed. “Are you done? I am not getting reported for letting you dish out secrets.”

Raven rolled her eyes sparking a smirk from Iruka, the man defended his previous student with ease. “Please, after dealing with Wolf and his troop I don’t think there’s anything she could say that would startle me.” Then to back himself up he pointed to the paperwork on the desk. “And as far as security clearance goes, I cannot express to you how deep in this shit I am.”

Raven guffawed, slamming a hand on the desk before pushing herself off of it to point at her teammate. “HA!”

The man grumbled at the woman’s tauntings, he sent a look towards the smirking Jounin. “Don’t make her worse than she already is.”

Iruka held up his hands in a surrender pose despite grinning like a loon. “Sorry, Anbu-san.”

Raven snorted. “No you’re not, but I won’t let him hurt you.” She winked.

“I’m going to finish the sweep when you’re done being a child, let me know.” The man huffed as he twisted about to leave the room. He got as far as the door before his teammate called out.

“Oooh you’re no fun Weasel, stop being a stick in the mud or I’ll have them change your name to gopher.”

Iruka couldn’t help but snort at the woman’s tauntings, the male Anbu, Weasel twisted to glare at the pair of them before storming down the hallway. Raven laughed, twisted back to stare at Iruka and in earnest stated. “Don’t worry about him, he’s a big teddy bear.”

“Uh-huh.” Iruka smiled. “I can tell.”

Raven leaned forward onto the man’s desk again, idly pushing some papers this way and that only to laugh when Iruka slapped her hand and gathered the papers up. He gave her a disapproving look even as he reminded her. “Just because you’re Anbu doesn’t mean you get access to everything.”

“So serious sensei.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “You’re Anbu surely you’re used to the rules by now.”

She grunted. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Can you believe that I once thought my Jounin sensei was going to be the worst person I’d ever train under?”

Iruka smiled as he set aside the papers the young woman had been meddling with. Retaking his seat Iruka put his chin in his hand. “That I can believe. A lot of people think that their Jounin sensei will be the hardest superior they'll have to face, but then again you’ve probably got a lot of proof showing that the belief is wrong now”

“Anbu don’t really have sensei...It’s kinda a free for all, a bunch of piranhas to be honest.”

Iruka chuckled. “Mmhmm, but you made it.” He stated with pride. “Not everyone can do that.”

She nodded. “I did...Question the decision every day I have to work with that bastard.” She jerked her thumb towards the door where her teammates had wandered off from.

Iruka snorted. “I don’t believe that you seem to get on good enough.”

“Oh, we do.” She nodded. “But there are times where I’m glad there are missing-nin to keep us busy.” Raven chuckled right along with Iruka. “So...Yonri huh?”

Iruka groaned, shaking his head. “Please...Please don’t tell Kakashi.”

She laughed. “He’ll find out sooner or later Sensei.”

Shaking his head Iruka muttered. “I’d rather it be later, much later...He’s got a thing about me working late and if he finds out I fell for that bastards tricks.” Iruka groaned. “I can’t deal with that look of his.”

Raven shrugged as she listened to the man's woes, offering some sage advice to the man. “Punch him.”

Iruka blinked in surprise. “What?” He laughed.

Raven nodded as she explained. “Punch him, that’s what the rest of Anbu do when he’s being annoying.”

Iruka gave her a rather displeased look for that declaration. “You do not.”

“Alright, I don’t...But some of the other Anbu do.”

“His team I would believe, but I don’t think the rest of you lot would do so...Ibiki on the other hand.”

Raven nodded. “Who do you think orders us to punch him?”

Iruka sighed. “Figures.”

Raven chuckled, patting the man’s desk. “Ah, don’t worry about him sensei he’s got a thick head and nothing Ibiki’s ever done has stuck with him.”

“I’m not sure we should let him know that.”

“Who? Ibiki or Kakashi?”

“I’d say Ibiki but I know he’s already aware, I’d say Kakashi because he’d just try harder to be a nuisance so really...Both.”

Raven laughed. “You can’t win that one sensei.”

Iruka smiled back at the young woman, it was strange to think that she at one point in time had been one of his students. He’d taught for years and there wasn’t an age requirement to join Anbu as evidenced by Kakashi. The woman before him couldn’t be much older than Naruto which made his heart hurt to know all the things she must have seen, have done since joining the prestigious rank.

“You don’t have to worry sensei.”

“Huh?” Iruka frowned as he came out of his own musings. “Worry?”

The Anbu nodded. “You had that look, the one you always got when you were worried about one of us.” The kindness in her voice was followed with the reassurance. “I’m fine. I found my place here, and it may not always be pretty but I found my will of fire.”

Iruka smiled softly at the woman’s declaration. “I’m sure you have, but it doesn't’ mean I can’t worry.”

She chuckled. “Fine, I can’t stop you from doing that.” She reasoned before tapping the man’s desk. “I can however forcefully kick you out of the building for not having the proper paperwork to remain after hours.”

Iruka’s eyes widened. “W-What?”

Raven laughed as she straightened herself up and nodded. “March sensei, time to go home.”

“I-I have work to do!” Iruka waved a hand at the desk and all the papers.

Raven hummed as she walked around the man’s desk to come up behind him. “Yeah, that sucks...But it’s time to go home and you really shouldn’t be here in the first place sensei. Yonri will get what’s coming to him, but that’s no reason for you to be overworked.”

“Is that a threat?” Iruka asked curiously even as he stumbled as the woman started to push him towards the doorway.

“No.” She chimed in easily. “Simply a fact.”

Iruka snorted not believing the young woman's word. “Does this fact involve you?”

Raven laughed. “No sensei, I wouldn’t hurt anyone here.”

Iruka hummed. “Alright...But I really could continue wo-” Iruka wasn’t even able to finish his words as Raven called out to the hallway at large where other security teams were mingling about. “Got a live one!”

Iruka huffed as everyone turned to stare at them. “That is not reassuring, makes it sound like you’re going to kill me for trespassing.”

Raven laughed as she pushed him forward through the groups of Anbu who were chuckling, obviously in on some kind of joke that Iruka wasn’t in on. “I won’t hurt you sensei, I’ll leave that to Kakashi...Doubt he’ll be impressed to find out what went on but hey at least you’ll get some sleep.”

Iruka shook his head as they came to stand at the doors that lead outside the T&I office, twisting about to stare at the Raven masked Anbu Iruka smirked. “You make a very annoying Anbu Raven.”

She rocked on her heels. “Thanks.”

Chuckling as the woman took that as a compliment Iruka gave a wave, well aware that he was beaten and his only option was to go home. “Keep up the good work.”

“Bye sensei!” She waved as Iruka left the building, twisting sharply about the young kunoichi joined the other teams and with a pep in her voice remarked. “Yonri’s on the blacklist.”

The group nodded, not another word need be said. Just because he was no longer her sensei didn’t mean that she couldn’t keep an eye on the man. After all, Raven’s never forget.

  
  


********* Hunter-nin-Wednesday 

Iruka cursed under his breath as he left the interrogation room, he really hated it when Ibiki needed him to sit by and write down the answers to whatever questions the man might have for the poor soul who was giving them. Shaking his head as he stalked down the hallway with his notes in hand, the Jounin shuffled the mismatched papers in haste. All Iruka wanted to do was get back to his office, make sure the notes were legible and take off for the day before Ibiki had any bright ideas of asking him to stay late. He already had more scrolls that he was taking home with him and Iruka really had no intention of staying late on top of that. There was only so much of that man that Iruka could take in a day and he had well exceeded it that day.

Iruka turned a corner sharply as he shuffled his crumpled papers about only to lose them all as he crashed headlong into someone, the pair of them crumpling to the ground. Papers went everywhere.

Iruka groaned as he rubbed his head from where it had come into contact with what he was sure was Anbu armor. The only other occupants down in the lower levels which was great seeing how that word would spread about this little run-in. Sighing as he glanced about to all the misplaced papers, Iruka sighed. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Glancing up at the person he’d crashed into Iruka froze upon seeing the person being helped up by one of their teammates. A masked individual turned their attention to him and shook their heads.

“It’s fine.”

Iruka gave a nod as he climbed his feet, glancing about to the papers he quickly said thank you when one of the shinobi bent to help him collect his papers. “Ah, thanks...I swear Ibiki just likes making me take these things to waste paper.” He felt a bit better when his joke got a laugh from the shinobi. As he was collecting things Iruka tilted his head and grimaced as he realized that when he’d reached out to collect a discarded item it wasn’t his own paperwork, standing up with the collected item he held it out with a torn smile.

“Uh...You dropped this.”

“Ah.” The masked man nodded as he reached out to take the sack from Iruka, the blood that was dripping from it went unmentioned by all as the shinobi secured the bag once more to his side.

Iruka wiped the blood that had stained his fingers onto his flak jacket, ignoring the fact that he’d just been holding a bag with what was undoubtedly a person’s head. Iruka nodded when he was handed a stack of papers by the man’s teammate. “Thanks.” Iruka tried to straighten the pile out.

“It doesn’t bother you.”

Iruka hummed as he righted the papers only to pause, looking past them to the small group of shinobi he questioned. “What doesn’t?” The man gestured towards the sack tied to his side. “Oh...Um, well I’m not sure if you know who I am or not.” Iruka stammered as he reached up to scratch at his scar. “But uh...I’ve seen a lot what with my sense-”

“Orochimaru.” Iruka tensed when the man’s name was uttered, the hunter-nin nodded. “Makes sense.”

Iruka blew out a long breath. “Yeah...At least it’s in a bag.” Iruka smiled wanly at the group.

The hunter-nin nodded back at him, the man who had crashed into Iruka apologized. “Sorry about your papers.”

Iruka glanced towards the papers when the man motioned towards them, there was blood on a few pages from the Hunter-nin’s attempts to help gather them. Iruka snorted. “Serves Ibiki right.” He smirked to them and garnered chuckles from the masked individuals. “Well, I better get back upstairs and see if I can’t sort through whatever mutterings I had to write down are.” Iruka swallowed and gave a nod towards the man’s own task. “Good luck with that.”

The man patted the sack as if it wasn’t a dismembered head tied to his side. “Hard part is over.”

The man wasn’t wrong there, Iruka nodded his head. “Yeah...Doubt a head is going to give you much trouble.” Iruka smirked before giving a wave. “Sorry for running into you.” The Jounin headed off down the hallway, leaving the hunter-nin to tend to their own work. 

Climbing into the elevator that would take him back to his office, Iruka shook his head. He’d literally just run into Hunter-nin and handed them their head back. Iruka groaned, letting his head fall back to thunk on the walls of the elevator. “God I hope they don’t tell Ibiki.”

********* Respect-Thursday

Given how his morning started it was safe to say that the hunter-nin had said something to someone, whether or not Ibiki was made aware of their run in Iruka didn’t yet know. What he did know was that when he came into his office bright and early that morning his office door was ajar meaning one thing. Someone was inside waiting for him, taking a deep breath and prepared to deal with whatever chaos was starting so early in the workday Iruka entered only to pause. 

He’d been right, of course, someone was waiting in his office for him, it just hadn’t been who he anticipated. Of all the people who might have come to speak to him about any manner of things, the top of which being Ibiki, Iruka hadn’t considered that the interrogations officer wouldn’t be who greeted him that day. 

“Umm...Hello?”

The masked individual wasn’t one that Iruka had ever come across before and he’d seen quite a few Anbu since his employment in T&I. The woman had her arms crossed over her armored chest, the mask she wore was blank aside from the traditional eye slits. Stark white in appearance and entirely unnerving for some reason.

“Close the door and sit down.”

Iruka gave a small nod, there was no point in disobeying given the obvious discrepancy in their ranks. Closing his office door the Jounin made his way to his desk, shedding his work bag to the floor before taking a seat. Regarding the masked woman with an air of curiosity and wariness.

“I heard you ran into some people yesterday.”

Iruka gave a small smile. “Uh...Yes, I did.”

The woman gave a nod. “Returned something important.”

Iruka snorted before he could stop himself. “I really don’t think one could claim a head as important.”

“Oh?” The woman’s voice was curious now. “What do you think it was then?”

“A head.”

The woman huffed, not amused by the Jounin’s candor. “That head was important, a mark that we’d been in search of for a while.”

“Alright.” Iruka gave a nod. “I don’t see why that has you speaking with me, after all, I handed it back.”

“True.” The woman hummed. “You also treated them as equals.”

Ah. So this was the issue, a superiority complex. Iruka gave a small sigh as he leaned forward to put his chin in the palm of his hand. “And?” The droll of his voice earned him a steely look. “I don’t see the issue there, we were friendly or I suppose cordial given how we crashed into each other. They helped me gather my paperwork and I returned their...Head.”

The woman gave a nod. “You also left without being dismissed and didn’t show the respect that they deserved given their station.”

Iruka huffed. “You’ve come all this way to complain to me?” Pushing himself off of his own hand, Iruka sat up in his chair. “Were they so bothered by this? They didn’t act like it.”

“How they acted doesn’t matter. The fact that you were so careless in their presence is what brought me here.”

Iruka hummed as he looked at the woman critically. “They seemed friendly enough so I’m going to assume they weren’t bothered by my disrespect,” Iruka stated easily. “And we both know that had they taken offense it would have been quite easy for them to prevent my leaving. So I can only guess that somehow most likely through them, Ibiki found out and got on your case.” Iruka gave a small shrug, the woman who was still scowling at him made no indication of how she felt about anything so Iruka continued. “He does that to people, but that doesn’t mean that you coming here to lecture me about proper respect in rankings is going to change what happened yesterday. It was a fluke and I was nothing if not cordial, I apologized for crashing into him. What more could you possibly want?”

The woman’s posture tightened upon hearing what the Jounin had to say. “In the future, should you come across any of my men you will act accordingly.” 

The bite in her words had Iruka sighing. “Is there protocol I’m not aware of?”

The woman threw her hands down to her side and stalked forward to stand opposite of Iruka, her hands coming to rest on the edge of the man’s desk. “Just because Ibiki allows you to act as you do doesn’t mean I will.”

Iruka couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the irate woman, having put up with Ibiki for so long he couldn’t help but notice that the masked figure in front of him was trying overly hard to intimidate him. “With all due respect, after dealing with my sensei and Ibiki...You’re not very threatening though I can see why you’re doing your best to act as such.”

The masked figure froze put off guard by the man’s honesty. “What?”

Iruka gave a nod. “You’re hiding behind your anonymity and using it as a means to threaten those around you because the unknown is far scarier than knowing that it's just a woman beneath that mask. Rank really can only do so much for you when people are immersed with Anbu and well now Hunter-nins.” Iruka smiled at her. “I understand that you want to keep Ibiki out of your hair and to do that you have to keep others from associating with your teams, but I think that’s rather lonely for them don’t you? They do a great service to our village, a job that many wouldn’t undertake for quite a few reasons.” Iruka gave a small shrug as the woman stared at him in what he assumed was shock. “I would think that whatever human contact they could have when in such a bleak place as this would be good for them, after all, it’s not like I was trying to figure out who they were let alone who the head belonged too. But if you want me to ignore them, pretend they don’t exist I’ll do my best to adhere to your wishes.”

The Hunter-nin leaned back, letting her arms fall to her sides as she stared the Jounin up and down. When the man said nothing more but just continued to smile at her did she find her voice. “You were being respectful.”

“Hmm?” Iruka frowned. “You just sai-”

“You were treating them like human beings and not weapons.” Her voice was softer now, hesitant as she spoke such words. As if before that moment she had thought everything Iruka had done was just an act.

“How else would I treat them?” Iruka smiled back at her. “They’re just people, masked ones but people none the less and with a job that must be hard to relate to others.”

The woman nodded. “Yes, it is.” Coughing as if to clear her throat though they both knew it wasn’t for that sake the masked figure addressed the Jounin once more. “You are not what I was expecting.”

Iruka snorted. “Well if Ibiki told you about me I can only assume the horror stories of disobedience he spun.”

The woman's voice held a lot of humor as she replied. “I suppose you wouldn’t be wrong.”

Iruka gave a nod. “Figures.” With a deep sigh, Iruka questioned. “So would you like me to avoid them if I ever come across them or their comrades? I wouldn’t want to be seen as disrespectful.”

The woman sighed, shook her head and then muttered. “No...You’re right, being treated like any other shinobi with such a bleak job would do them good...I couldn’t be certain you weren’t disrespecting their rank with how careless you were around them.”

“Not careless,” Iruka stated. “Just being normal.”

The woman snorted. “That’s not normal.”

“It’s my normal.”

“Fair enough.” She stated as she couldn't argue what was normal for this particular man. “If you happen across my men again...Be normal.” She spun around and left without another word. When the door to his office closed did Iruka sigh in relief as he slumped over his desk. “I can’t have a normal day here, it’s impossible.” The jounin groaned as he closed his eyes and wondered what Ibiki would have to say about all of this because Iruka wasn’t stupid he knew the interrogations officer would have a lot to say about this.

Iruka snorted. “Be normal...I’m the only one here who is.”

********* Breakout-Friday

Iruka pushed the button for the elevator, absent-mindedly shuffling the documents that he had with him. Now that he had Ibiki’s signature half of the pile could be filed and the rest distributed to other departments which was fine by him, Iruka had plenty more to deal with in his own office. The chime sounded prompting Iruka to look up in preparation for the doors to open only for them to remain closed. Frowning Iruka leaned over and pressed the button just in case the elevator got conflicting signals from another level. Still, nothing happened, but the sign above the elevator was illuminated or it was. Iruka jumped a hair when the power suddenly went out the clawing darkness eating up the lower level. Iruka twisted sharply around, his back to the elevator as he waited for emergency lights to come on or someone else to appear to tell him what was going on. Nothing happened.

Frowning Iruka took a breath and pushed himself off of the elevator to take hesitant steps into the darkness, if he went straight then he couldn’t get turned around. Keep the elevator directly behind him while looking for someone to direct him either to another exit (though he knew of no other exits in the building off the top of his head) Or better to assure him that it was a simple error that would be fixed. It was simply because they were in the lower level, where all manner of people who were there for circumstances that would see them eager to break out that had Iruka on guard. There was no telling what caused the power outage, it could simply be an overworked breaker or it could be something-Someone at fault. 

An ear wrenching squeal proceeded an alarm that had Iruka standing stalk still in the middle of a pitch-black hallway.

“Securing facility. Senior access required to lift lockdown procedures.”

Iruka sighed. “And I thought the worst I’d have to deal with was Ibiki.” Shaking his head Iruka stretched out an arm allowing his hand to ghost the nearest wall, keeping himself in touch with a solid surface Iruka slowly pressed forward. There could be any number of reasons for a lockdown, none of them to Iruka’s knowledge were good. Some were worse than others, but Iruka tried not to dwell on those seeing as they were in a secure facility and there had to be at least a handful of Anbu down here with him...And Ibiki.

Nodding to himself, Iruka took a deep breath and withheld the urge to call out for someone, that was a stupid and most likely costly mistake that seasoned shinobi like himself knew to stop. There was no taking back alerting those around you of your position, far better to remain innocuous in the dark than stand out. 

Iruka managed to walk all the way down the pitch-black hallway, coming to halt when his hand came to the corner of the wall. Now at an impasse with three other directions to choose from Iruka allowed his senses to focus on everything around him. The overbearing silence was suffocating just as much as the darkness that prevented him from seeing anything. Listening at first was just as useless, his own heartbeat was swamping his eardrums to the point of drowning out any and all sounds in the lower level of T&I. Iruka took a shallow breath, doing his best not to make noise as he tried to clear his thoughts and slow down his rapidly beating heart. No sooner than did he begin to calm than did the Jounin jump in his own skin as another announcement was made.

“Lockdown codes invalid, please enter correct access codes.”

Iruka bit his tongue, someone was trying to lift the lockdown without codes. No Anbu would do that, neither would any other worker of T&I, they were all trained in the protocol of the building. That left one alternative, whoever had sparked the lockdown in the first place was trying to escape it. 

Iruka racked his brain for the locations for the security clearance boxes, there were three on this level. They were spread out for this very reason, in case any particular part of the level was compromised a senior officer could still get to a command console and issue correct codes to either lift the lockdown or signal for help. Not that those outside didn’t already know that shit was going on, the alarm sounded on all levels of the compound, it was just that no one could come and help with the security doors. Not without a lot of effort that is. So for the meantime, Iruka and whoever was still on the level were trapped with whoever it was that was trying to escape. 

Knowing his whereabouts Iruka twisted his head to the left, if he went that way then a command console should only be three rows over and two up. Not far, but even if he did manage to get there Iruka didn’t have codes to lift or even send messages to the higher levels. He supposed the only benefit of going there was being at a destination where others would gather, far better than wandering the dark that is.

Iruka made it over into the next hallway before freezing, the sounds of footsteps, fastly approaching footsteps echoed up the hallways around him. Iruka wasn’t sure which direction they were coming from exactly, but without a second thought, the Jounin phased through the wall in the off chance that whoever was running came upon him. Meeting people face to face in a pitch-black hallway was not how he wanted to go about finding other shinobi. Iruka blinked through the heady whirl of colors that came with phasing in utter darkness. Squinting his eyes as the warping of his surroundings fell still Iruka realized something. The darkness around him, out in the hallway wasn’t so dark anymore. It was still hard to peer through, but Iruka could actually make out the doors that lined either side of the halls. A useful skill to have given his current situation, but one he couldn’t overly rely on. He was jarred from his assessment in this change of his skills by the bearer of the footsteps coming around a corner, Iruka didn’t waste a second as he came out of the wall startling the other man.

“Jesus!”

“Sorry.” Iruka coughed a moment.

The Anbu before him couldn’t see any better than he could, but their close proximity at least helped to verify who they were to each other.

“How’d-”

“I can go through walls,” Iruka replied coolly. 

“Right.” The man sighed as if he was annoyed at himself for having forgotten that little tidbit of information.

“What’s going on? Someone was hack-”

“Yeah.” The Anbu muttered sourly. “They ran off before I could find them, from what I can gather it’s one of the nins from grass. How they got out I don’t know, I haven’t seen the person in charge of them.”

“Dead?” Iruka treaded carefully.

“Possibly.” The Anbu grasped Iruka’s bicep and dragged him along, not that the Jounin was particularly fighting against the man’s directions. “Doesn’t matter, come on I’ll get you into one of the back rooms.”

“Back rooms?” This was new, Iruka always thought things were rather transparent once you got to a lower level.

“It’s a secure room for watching the compound, you’ll be safe there.”

Iruka snorted. “All due respect Goat, I’m not sheepish about fighting.”

The Anbu shook his head though it was hard for Iruka to see. “We don’t know who this is or what they're capable of. Right now, your presence isn’t recognized by anybody down here but me. Another Anbu might assume your an imposter, a lot of the captives have seen you.”

The man wasn’t wrong there. “Right...Are you sure I can’t do anything?”

“No. Once I get you there, stay inside until the lockdown is called off.”

Iruka sighed as he followed beside the Anbu, this was not how he anticipated waiting out the lockdown but he supposed it was better than taking on some missing-nin in the dark. A part of him wasn’t pleased to be relegated to the damsel in distress, but Iruka put his faith in the Anbu beside him and dealt with the blow to his pride for the sake of both their safety.

They ate up the distance, going up one hallway and down another, it was mind-boggling to Iruka how the man managed to navigate this all in pitch black and without any indicators of where they currently were in the building itself.

“How close?” Iruka whispered.

“Nearly there.”

“Is Ibiki still down here?” Because if there was one thing Iruka was sure of it was the fact that Ibiki would take great pleasure in making whoever had caused the lockdown rethink their plan.

“I don’t know, when did he leave?”

“A few minutes after I did?... He was going somewhere else though so I wasn’t sure if they were still on this level or not.”

Goat hummed, there were too many variables to even think about it. “Doesn’t matter.”

Iruka nodded his head despite it going unseen, the pair came to another break in the hallways. Goat was prepared to take a right when he stopped, Iruka tilted his head at the same noise that had halted the masked man. Footsteps.

Iruka bit his lip and then on a whim muttered. “Hold your breath.”

“Wha-”

Iruka grabbed the man by his armor and pulled him into the wall alongside him, the way Goat froze once they were phased was both greatly appreciated but also humorous because it was clear the man didn’t know what to do. Iruka wasn’t sure if Goat could see any clearer in the dark like he could or not, but Iruka watched out for whoever was coming their way. Friend or foe the person wasn’t aware that they were lurking just inside the walls of the very building they were all trapped in. 

A murky figure came darting down the hallway, a foreign person who didn’t wear the traditional garb of Konoha but rather the mismatched uniform of someone who had been their captive for long enough to earn a set of clothes. Knowing that Goat couldn’t speak as they were but he could, Iruka was quick to relay.

“We’re silent when we come out of here, they won’t know your there.” Iruka saw the faint nod the Anbu gave him. “You might be disorientated though, so get your bearings first.” Then from one breath to the next Iruka and Goat came out of the wall. Just as Iruka had said the Anbu had to regain his balance after their time inside the solid surface of the wall. Iruka was already alert a kunai in hand in case whoever had come running down the hallway double backed.

“How the hell do you do that?” The man hissed in a bare whisper.

Iruka smirked choosing not to address that particular question in favor of stating. “They went that way, let’s go.”

“You shoul-”

Iruka twisted and didn’t flinch when he stabbed the man with a sharp finger in the chest. “We’re in this, I can see through the walls and you can’t. Hiding away in some office isn’t going to fix this.”

Goat was silent for a bare moment before the man sighed. “Alright...But warn me if you’re going to do that...Again.”

Iruka snorted at the revulsion in the man’s whispered words. “Come on.” Iruka silently made his way down the hallway, an Anbu right beside him as they searched for the person who had just unknowingly crossed their paths. The pair came to a halt when they reached a cross-section of the hallways, both glanced about trying to cut through the darkness.

“Lockdown codes invalid, please enter correct access codes.”

Goat snorted. “Got em’.” He grasped Iruka’s arm and dragged the Jounin to the left.

Iruka smirked, his heart beating faster despite the lethality this situation was made up of. The fact that they were on the offensive, that they knew where this person was and that for some insane reason they were working together due to the present circumstances made Iruka’s breath come faster.

They both heard the cursing of a man up ahead, no doubt the person who was responsible for the alarm system requesting valid codes again. Before Goat could get ahead of himself, Iruka snagged the man aside. Bringing the man’s hand up to the wall nearest them, Iruka sank himself into the wall before releasing Goat’s wrist. Iruka saw the Anbu nod, now aware that his back up was in the very walls around him the Anbu prowled forward intent on catching the escapee. Iruka followed inside the walls, keeping pace and prepared to dart into the real world in an instant if it proved that Goat needed his help but well prepared to stay out of the man's way. 

The Anbu’s nearly silent footsteps proved to be loud enough, the shinobi who had been on the run twisted sharply. Ducking down and running forward to try and catch Goat off guard, Iruka winced as the pair went down. It barely took a moment for Goat to kick the man off of himself, sending him skidding along the floor of the hallway. Iruka hissed when he saw that the man’s true goal came to light, he had a weapon now. Given the curse that Goat uttered, the man was aware that one of his weapons had been stolen.

“I’m getting out of here one way or another.” The man rasped, it became clear to Iruka that the man was dehydrated given how strained his voice was...Or perhaps it had something to do with screaming. One never could tell. 

“No, you’re not. Lay down the weapon.” Goat fished another kunai out and palmed two shuriken in his other hand, ready to disarm the man by force alone. Sending a shuriken towards the skittish man got the blade deflected, despite his position it was clear that the man on the run was well trained given his ability to dodge the attack in darkness.

Iruka skirted around the pair via the wall, letting Goat occupy the man as he drew closer.

“Your choice whether or not you die.” The man bit out. “Cause I ain’t dying here.”

“That’s yet to be seen.” Goat reasoned. “There’s a very real chance of you dying here, today. Put the weapon down and things will go easier for you.”

The man let out a poisonous laugh. “For fuck's sake, you think I believe that? You think this is someplace that you just leave?”

“No.” Goat admitted. “But how you reach your end is up to you.”

“Damn straight.” The shinobi agreed. “And I say it’s through your fucking corpse and out of this hell hole.”

“Not an option.”

The man growled in reply to the cold declaration from the Anbu. “I’ll make it an option.” In the darkness, the man made a step forward, prepared and eager to rush the Anbu. To drive him back once more if not outright kill him, he made it three steps before being tackled to the ground from behind. Grunting the man cursed as his arm was ripped behind him, his wrist cracking with the force that disabled it and discarded the weapon he’d hoped to use against the Anbu.

“FUCK!”

Iruka panted as he held the man in place, looking up when Goat came to kneel before him Iruka muttered. “You misplaced this.” Iruka held out the kunai that he’d just robbed from the escaping shinobi.

Goat chuckled as he took the blade back. “Thanks. You got him?”

“Oh, he’s not going anywhere,” Iruka replied easily as he pushed on the man’s shoulder earning pain-filled noises. “So if you could get the lights on, that’d be awesome.”

“I’ll work on that. Stay here.”

Iruka hummed as he shifted, pushing his knee into the other side of the man, forcing the other shoulder down and settling his weight firmly atop the man. Taking a deep breath Iruka held firmly and did his best not to think about the lengths the man had gone to try and escape this place, Iruka couldn’t help but feel some compassion towards the man’s plight. He knew just how terrifying this place was, what it could mean if you were on the opposing side of the interrogators and Anbu. Iruka shook his head, this man wasn’t him, this man wasn’t innocent.

“I’ll fuckin kill you all.”

Iruka huffed. “You’ve got a broken wrist, no weapons and in about five minutes all of our available Anbu will be swarming this place. You’re not going anywhere let alone killing anyone.”

The man cursed some more but Iruka disregarded it in light of the hallway lights flickering in quick succession before solidifying. Smiling at the bright lights that stung his eyes but also brought a great sense of relief now that he could see clearly Iruka canted his head down to see the disheveled appearance of the grass nin who wasn’t going to be leaving this level.

Iruka shook his head, he couldn’t fault the man his attempt but he also couldn’t sympathize with the man. Before his mind could cascade Iruka was drawn from his own thoughts by footsteps coming down the hallway. Iruka smiled as Goat and another Anbu came down the hallway to stand before him.

“So...Who wants him?”

Goat chuckled at the carefree Jounin’s question. “He’s all yours.” Goat nudged his comrade. “Try not to lose him this time.”

The man grumbled, obviously having been read the riot act for something that Iruka was privy too. Iruka wasn’t sure if the man was actually responsible for the grass nin escaping or not if he was then Iruka pitied him because Ibiki was going to tear into him like no tomorrow. Iruka got off of the grass nin, wincing on his behalf when the other Anbu not so gently pulled the man to his feet and wrapped a gloved hand around the man’s broken wrist before pulling it behind the grass nins back. The grass nin shouted a curse in pain but was propelled forward by the Anbu who didn’t care.

Iruka sighed now that the ordeal was over, the sound of the alarm system declaring the lockdown as being over just made the Jounin feel accomplished. Looking at Goat, the Jounin apologized. “Sorry about the wall thing...I uh, usually don’t have to do that.”

Goat snorted. “Have you done that to Hatake?”

Iruka chuckled. “I think you mean with and no...I’ve done it to him though.” Iruka smiled as he explained. “He had a similar reaction to you.”

“Go figure.” The Anbu drawled. “It’s a very useful trick you’ve got.”

“Not a trick,” Iruka replied easily enough. “Kekkei Genkei.”

Goat froze, then nodded. “I see.” Iruka pouted when the Anbu added. “You shouldn’t go around telling people that.”

Iruka groaned as the man chastised him in the same fashion as when they’d first met each other. “Come on Goat!”

The masked man chuckled after having given the Jounin a hard time. “Thank you for your help.”

Iruka relaxed, blushed a bit at the man’s thanks and shook his head. “Of course I was going to help.”

Goat nodded, that much had become clear.

Both Iruka and Goat tensed when they heard the violently angry voice of Ibiki radiating from somewhere else on the level.

“WHO DID THIS?!”

Iruka blew out a long breath of air. “Glad it’s not us.”

Goat nodded. “Afraid we still have to report into him though, tell him what happened.”

Iruka groaned. “Can’t we just claim a head wound? I’ve suffered enough today, don’t make me deal with a pissed off Ibiki on top of that idiot with the lockdown. My paperwork is somewhere in here and I honestly don’t know where.”

Goat grabbed the Jounin by the shoulder and pulled him along, a smirk under his mask gracing his features as he promised the man. “Won’t be so bad...We’re not the ones who let the idiot escape. He might even say thank you.”

Iruka laughed as he twisted abruptly to look back at the Anbu who was shoving him along. “Sure you weren’t hit in the head?”

Goat snorted and shoved a bit harder. “Move it, I don’t want to have to stay down here longer than necessary after this.”

Iruka hummed. “Report and run?”

“Divert his attention onto another before running but yes.”

Iruka chuckled as he fell in line with Goat once more. “Fine, but you have to help me find my paperwork.”

“Deal.”

Iruka smiled to himself, he’d survived his first lockdown in T&I and all while assisting an Anbu to capture an escaping shinobi. Not bad for a Friday and then the high from having succeeded fell apart when Iruka realized something. “The paperwork for this better not require his signature,” Iruka muttered.

Goat laughed, that was not reassuring.

*********** Saturday

“Oi, Iruka?”

“Go away, I’ve suffered enough.”

Kakashi laughed as he gently poked at his lover. “Come on, it’s Saturday. You don’t have to see Ibiki or any other Anbu for two whole days.”

“Liar,” Iruka muttered tiredly as he shifted in bed to cover his head with the blanket, earning himself a laugh from Kakashi who pulled at the blankets.

“What do you mean liar?”

“You’re Anbu.”

Kakashi huffed at the insinuated insult. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do, but go away.” Iruka’s muffled voice came from beneath the blankets.

Kakashi laughed, falling into the bed beside Iruka the Anbu wrapped his arms around the blanket blob that was Iruka. “Alright...You can stay under there, you can’t see me that way which means that we can be together right?”

Iruka gave a small chuckle. “Right.”

“So...Got any plans for tomorrow?”

Iruka snorted. “I’m just trying to survive one day at a time Kakashi, this is the first day that I haven’t yet been bombarded with Anbu, work, or Ibiki.”

Kakashi hummed, Iruka wasn’t wrong there he’d had a pretty rough week. “Would it make you feel any better if I promised not to be Anbu again until Monday?”

Iruka pushed the blankets off of his head to smile at Kakashi. “Really?”

Kakashi shrugged. “No mask, I swear.” He held up his fingers in an oath symbol that just earned him laughter from the still blanket wrapped Jounin.

Iruka unearthed his arms to wrap them around Kakashi and pull the man closer, kissing Kakashi chastely on the lips he pulled back to utter. “You’re an idiot.”

Kakashi smiled. “I’ll even promise not to wear clothes if it makes it better.”

Iruka snickered as he buried his head in Kakashi’s neck. “I think I might survive the weekend with clothes Kakashi.”

“Never know, they can be unpredictable...Safety first ne?” Kakashi smirked as Iruka’s form shook against him as the man laughed silently. Running his fingers through Iruka’s hair Kakashi whispered. “Come on, I promise if you get out of bed there won’t be any Anbu other than me and you know I’ll swear on my life that you won’t have to see Ibiki.”

Iruka sighed. “Alright.” Iruka pulled back to stare up at Kakashi who was smiling down at him. “Let’s see if Saturday isn’t better.”

“Of course it will be better, you’ve got me.”

Iruka hummed. “You’re right, it seems better already.”


End file.
